FB: American Southwest Conference

[roocru]

roocru ...  I liked Hwy 20 from Dallas to just west of Intercourse where it bends northeast on through Tuscaloosa. 459  loop around Birmingham and it's I-59 to Chattanooga.  I-75 northeast to Knoxville and then I-81 to the Salem off-ramp.
I did the reverse last April.
Made the mistake of not stopping in Salem to look at the field.  I figured I'd be back instead of you. 

put your helmet on for the Tennessee portions, the folks drive like they are running Talladega.  I've been passed doing 85 mph on that stretch of I-75.

Safe travels.

Thanks D.O.C., that is my route except I am cutting through East Texas to get to I-20. I have done this before for an earlier Stagg Bowl. Maybe next year.

SaintsFan, that sounds like Texas highways.  Remember that in Texas,  nearby towns are a 1-2 hour drive away!

[wildcat11]

This could be another epic defensive battle.  I'll be pulling for the Cru.  Not only because that will make me feel a little better as a Linfield fan but really the people at UMHB have been 1st class in every interaction I've had with them over the years.  A great fan base and program that deserves this shot at a National Title.  Best of luck!

[Toby Taff]

put your helmet on for the Tennessee portions, the folks drive like they are running Talladega.  I've been passed doing 85 mph on that stretch of I-75.

Safe travels.

Thanks D.O.C., that is my route except I am cutting through East Texas to get to I-20. I have done this before for an earlier Stagg Bowl. Maybe next year.

SaintsFan, that sounds like Texas highways.  Remember that in Texas,  nearby towns are a 1-2 hour drive away!

also important to remember we have 75mph highways and 85mph toll roads.

[Desertraider]

Congrats to the Cru. It was a great game. 3 games between the 2 teams and all of them were classics. Good luck in the Stagg Bowl and I will be rooting for you (I am sure that will make the difference!!).

On the ESPN stuff.......ESPN is the worst. Mounties have been saying for years that the ESPN guys don't know anything about the teams and don't treat it like a real game. If they did they would know the players names, the history (even recent history) of the teams and have more to say than "in Division III there are no scholarships, they play for love of the game". I think we should start a petition to have Pat and the D3 crew call the Semi final games on ESPN. At the very least have an ESPN guy do the broadcast and A D3football.com guy be the sidekick (Pat for one and Kieth for the other).

Anyway - congrats again to the Cru! Well earned and well deserved........

Oh what the heck - let's just say the fake punt failed and Mount got 2 completions and a FG to win (god that would have been great!), or ran a guy out late and he picked it off for a score. How many would have been like "why fake it - pin em deep"? I know if that had happened Coach Pete would have said 'it was my call' and taken the heat - he seems like a classy guy. Anyway.

[Ralph Turner]

Congrats to the Cru. It was a great game. 3 games between the 2 teams and all of them were classics. Good luck in the Stagg Bowl and I will be rooting for you (I am sure that will make the difference!!).

On the ESPN stuff.......ESPN is the worst. Mounties have been saying for years that the ESPN guys don't know anything about the teams and don't treat it like a real game. If they did they would know the players names, the history (even recent history) of the teams and have more to say than "in Division III there are no scholarships, they play for love of the game". I think we should start a petition to have Pat and the D3 crew call the Semi final games on ESPN. At the very least have an ESPN guy do the broadcast and A D3football.com guy be the sidekick (Pat for one and Kieth for the other).

Anyway - congrats again to the Cru! Well earned and well deserved........

Oh what the heck - let's just say the fake punt failed and Mount got 2 completions and a FG to win (god that would have been great!), or ran a guy out late and he picked it off for a score. How many would have been like "why fake it - pin em deep"? I know if that had happened Coach Pete would have said 'it was my call' and taken the heat - he seems like a classy guy. Anyway.

Perhaps a storm of tweets on @ESPN that #ESPNdoesntknowjack would get them to use D3 crews.

Pat and Keith to one venue. Name your favorites among another 5-10 who would do a great job!

(I had always hoped that Texas Lutheran alum Verne Lundquist would do a national D3 game.)

[wildcat11]

Congrats to the Cru. It was a great game. 3 games between the 2 teams and all of them were classics. Good luck in the Stagg Bowl and I will be rooting for you (I am sure that will make the difference!!).

On the ESPN stuff.......ESPN is the worst. Mounties have been saying for years that the ESPN guys don't know anything about the teams and don't treat it like a real game. If they did they would know the players names, the history (even recent history) of the teams and have more to say than "in Division III there are no scholarships, they play for love of the game". I think we should start a petition to have Pat and the D3 crew call the Semi final games on ESPN. At the very least have an ESPN guy do the broadcast and A D3football.com guy be the sidekick (Pat for one and Kieth for the other).

Anyway - congrats again to the Cru! Well earned and well deserved........

Oh what the heck - let's just say the fake punt failed and Mount got 2 completions and a FG to win (god that would have been great!), or ran a guy out late and he picked it off for a score. How many would have been like "why fake it - pin em deep"? I know if that had happened Coach Pete would have said 'it was my call' and taken the heat - he seems like a classy guy. Anyway.

Perhaps a storm of tweets on @ESPN that #ESPNdoesntknowjack would get them to use D3 crews.

Pat and Keith to one venue. Name your favorites among another 5-10 who would do a great job!

(I had always hoped that Texas Lutheran alum Verne Lundquist would do a national D3 game.)

Do we know who's calling the game this week?  We could do an "@" tweet campaign to ask them to treat the game as it should and not a "they play it for the love of the game" sideshow.

[Desertraider]

Congrats to the Cru. It was a great game. 3 games between the 2 teams and all of them were classics. Good luck in the Stagg Bowl and I will be rooting for you (I am sure that will make the difference!!).

On the ESPN stuff.......ESPN is the worst. Mounties have been saying for years that the ESPN guys don't know anything about the teams and don't treat it like a real game. If they did they would know the players names, the history (even recent history) of the teams and have more to say than "in Division III there are no scholarships, they play for love of the game". I think we should start a petition to have Pat and the D3 crew call the Semi final games on ESPN. At the very least have an ESPN guy do the broadcast and A D3football.com guy be the sidekick (Pat for one and Kieth for the other).

Anyway - congrats again to the Cru! Well earned and well deserved........

Oh what the heck - let's just say the fake punt failed and Mount got 2 completions and a FG to win (god that would have been great!), or ran a guy out late and he picked it off for a score. How many would have been like "why fake it - pin em deep"? I know if that had happened Coach Pete would have said 'it was my call' and taken the heat - he seems like a classy guy. Anyway.

Perhaps a storm of tweets on @ESPN that #ESPNdoesntknowjack would get them to use D3 crews.

Pat and Keith to one venue. Name your favorites among another 5-10 who would do a great job!

(I had always hoped that Texas Lutheran alum Verne Lundquist would do a national D3 game.)

Do we know who's calling the game this week?  We could do an "@" tweet campaign to ask them to treat the game as it should and not a "they play it for the love of the game" sideshow.

Too late to change it now. ESPN would get the tweets and be like "but 18 pages of my script is about love of the game - I memorized it. As it is now the Stagg stadium crew is ticked because they have to remove all the Mount stuff and do the whole stadium instead of half "um...do we get paid double since we have to do the whole thing?  Just kidding-

[GillCJ1]

Congrats to MHB on a big win. Glad to see some new blood in the Stagg Bowl!

BTW, I absolutely loved that they went for it on 4th down with 45 seconds left rather than punt the ball away. Sure, it's tempting to pin them deep and figure with 35 seconds and no timeouts, and a QB who had been essentially shut down, that there was no way Mount was going to drive some 70 yards to get in FG range. (And honestly, I think MHB wins if they get the punt off, for that very reason) But I love that MHB decided to be aggressive on their home field.

A deserved win

I love the call, too.  The fake was no surprise to most of us, but still, definitely a gutsy call by Mullins.  He's been such a fun player to watch.  Gonna miss him next year and beyond.

By the way, congrats on the coaching hire!  Swanstrom seems solid.  I like to keep tabs on the Bombers (my mom's side of the family is from Ithaca).  Hope he works out for you.

[HSUDAD]

Good luck to the Crunation from Abilene and the Cowboys, wishing you the best.

[Bombers798891]

Congrats to MHB on a big win. Glad to see some new blood in the Stagg Bowl!

BTW, I absolutely loved that they went for it on 4th down with 45 seconds left rather than punt the ball away. Sure, it's tempting to pin them deep and figure with 35 seconds and no timeouts, and a QB who had been essentially shut down, that there was no way Mount was going to drive some 70 yards to get in FG range. (And honestly, I think MHB wins if they get the punt off, for that very reason) But I love that MHB decided to be aggressive on their home field.

A deserved win

I love the call, too.  The fake was no surprise to most of us, but still, definitely a gutsy call by Mullins.  He's been such a fun player to watch.  Gonna miss him next year and beyond.

By the way, congrats on the coaching hire!  Swanstrom seems solid.  I like to keep tabs on the Bombers (my mom's side of the family is from Ithaca).  Hope he works out for you.

Thanks! I like the hire a lot. Good luck in Salem!

[MUC57]

DFWCrufan,

Sorry to be so late getting back to you. I really like your idea of getting together in the Stagg Bowl next year. You wanted our people to contact your people, so I contacted Davis, Dear, Robinson and Berry, LLC to work out the details. I feel this can be worked out (hopefully, pro bono) to everyone's satisfaction.
As long as I'm here, good luck in the Stagg. UMHB deserves a championship. A combination of a great Cruthedral, great fans and a great team. I hope you win it all. (as an aside, we also don't care much for teams from Wisconsin.)
I'll say it again......GO CRU!!!!!!!
(by the way, LLC stands for Leftout Lonely Champions, or something like that)

[D O.C.]

2003 I got a lot of smites from the OAC board. It applies again...

"The King is dead. Long live the King."

[Kelly Boggs]

Nothing but love here, D O.C., nothing but love!    But I think you meant 2004.

[D O.C.]

Actually, no, when St. John's and that darn 'ol Blake Elliott beat them.

[HScoach]

As a Mount guy, I'm completely fine with 1 semi-final loss every dozen years or so 

Congrats to MHB.   Now close the deal on Friday night.